Thursday, 23 August 2012

LGBT rugby in Manchester: an interview with Manchester Village Spartans

Earlier this month Leeds Rhinos became the latest rugby
league club to reaffirm their active lead in the fight against homophobia. Dedicating
their home match against Widnes Vikings to raising funds for Stonewall, it
represents the latest in a substantial number of efforts within the sport to
diversify and push for equality, following the launch of the multi-facetedequality
campaign, “Tackle It”. It also comes just two years after the RFL took a
hard-line stance towards the Castleford fans caught hurling abuse at Gareth
Thomas, the first notable rugby player to ”come out” whilst active in the game
and a year after Stonewall awarded RFL a place in its top 100 gay-friendly
workplaces. Altogether this has had the
effect of encouraging some commentators to say rugby league, whilst still
having considerable way to go to eradicate homophobia completely has made more
significant ground than football in recent years.

It's sporting twin, rugby union, has made significant
grassroots level efforts to attract more LGBT defining people to the game who
may have distanced themselves from the sport due to fears or experiences of
homophobic attitudes. The International Gay Rugby Association Board (IGRAB), a
predominantly union based organisation founded in 2002 as an umbrella
organisation for the growing number of inclusive, self-defined LGBT rugby clubs around the
world, is trying to promote rugby as a non-discriminatory, all-inclusive sport
.

This year its gay rugby world cup, named after player Mark
Bingham who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, celebrated its sixth contest in
Manchester.The city is also home to IGRAB member Manchester Village Spartans RUFC, formed in 1999 initially to provide a supportive playing environment for men who identify as gay or bisexual. Gareth Longley, representative and player of the Village Spartans, talked to me about the positives
of having self-defined LGBT-friendly rugby teams, how the sport is making
progress in terms of equality and what more there is to be done to reach a time
when self-defined LGBT teams need no longer exist.

Why did you choose to
get involved with the Village Spartans?

I’d always played rugby as a kid but when I came out just
before going to university I gave it up because the perceived macho image of
university clubs didn’t appeal to me and due to a fear of discrimination within
them for being gay, although this was only a perception rather than due to an actual
bad experience. It was only when i moved to Manchester when i was 24 that i got
back into playing rugby after discovering the Spartans.

Do you think that
LGBT rugby clubs are important to the LGBT population?

I think they are important. It’s not that they necessarily
act principally as a haven for people who fear being persecuted for being openly
gay, although LGBT teams can be a valuable place to gain enough confidence in
the sport to perhaps join a mainstream team or at least play with others
regardless of their sexuality. We hope that rugby players and officials in
general are really trying to work towards greater inclusivity within their clubs
both nationally and internationally.

LGBT teams can, however, additionally offer a certain type
of social understanding that a chiefly straight team can’t always do to the
same degree. On a night out for example, Manchester Spartans go predominantly to
the gay bars and I can talk to them about my relationship more openly because
the majority of them are gay too so I think it offers the opportunity to feel a
real part of the team both on and off the pitch due to having that common
ground in social terms. We hope to be capitalising on this aspect with gay men
interested in rugby.

At the end of the day we are there to play rugby and our
team is an inclusive one, it’s by no means exclusive to any particular
sexuality so we welcome all men who show an interest in playing for us. I think
self-defined, LGBT-friendly teams work both ways in attempting to encourage
inclusivity and diversity whilst highlighting to everyone that sexuality is by
no means a barrier to being good at sport.

Do you think that
rugby is more progressive in terms of its attempts to ensure substantial LGBT
equality and inclusivity than football and if so, why?

I think rugby in the main has been more progressive in this
area. I can’t comment on rugby league but in terms of rugby union I’d say that
maybe this is due in part to the fact that historically union was and continues
to be a lot more of an upper middle class sport where it’s been easier for
people to ‘come out’ due to their more privileged positions. This can be seen
on an international level too to some extent.
Rugby Union is now gaining popularity in the more affluent gay scenes in
countries where it’s traditionally not been played such as the US within some
expensive universities.

In general though, perceptions in sport are changing for the
better across the board in terms of real inclusivity due to changing social
attitudes. Sexuality shouldn’t be a barrier to sport and I envisage a time
where in ten, 15 years we won’t have to have LGBT teams because sport will be
completely inclusive. We’ve still got a long way to go yet though both in union
and league as in other major sports.

Have you been
successful in attracting more LGBT people into the sport?

I think we’ve helped make an impact; some people shy away
from the sport at school because of fears that they’ll be discriminated against
for being gay and feeling that they couldn’t adequately identify with the
people that they were playing with. LGBT teams offer people the chance to take
up the sport at a much later age than in regular adult teams where a certain
standard of playing is more likely to be expected. Because of this it has the
ability to offer newcomers a safe inroad into the sport that’s more open to
beginner level playing.

We like to give opportunities to people who haven’t come
from a sporting background not only to gain confidence to play the sport but
get involved in the team-oriented social side too. We want to give people the
chance to become involved in an activity that’s bigger and broader socially
than just going to a gay bar, its giving people the chance to be part of
something bigger that comes with a solid support network founded on team
mentality.

I think hosting the rugby world cup in Manchester definitely
highlighted the sport’s attempts to encourage people interested in playing the
sport but with little experience to get involved, but I’m not sure that it alone
radically increased our team’s LGBT following or participation.

What do you envisage
for the future of LGBT teams such as yours?

Now that we have an established team our focus is to improve
the quality of the rugby that we play. Being a niche team in the past we’ve
struggled to get enough players to ensure we’ve got reserves which has limited
us in terms of inevitable injuries that players suffer. We’d love to do more
outreach to change people’s perceptions of gay men not being sporty and to
encourage gay men and boys that do like sport to stay involved in it;
unfortunately we don’t have the resources to be able to do that effectively at
the moment. We hope that by improving the standard of the team will be able to
challenge any continuing stereotypes some people may still hold about gay men
in sports.

Now that we’ve been established for a while people’s
attitudes towards us have changed; they realise that we are just blokes who
happen to fancy men and are good at rugby. Hopefully that’s something that will
ripple throughout the community; we want people to see us as rugby players
first and as gay men second.

I think educating people that just because you’re gay it doesn’t mean that you’re going to jump on them in the shower or be remotely interested in them is an important part of what both LGBT teams and the wider rugby community need to focus on. Hopefully with the support of big names like Ben Cohen, Gareth Thomas and Mark Bingham alongside other notable LGBT public figures and governing sports bodies like RFL and RFU we will all play a part in helping stamp out homophobic bullying in sport.